Possibilities for transformation of the urban land management in Serbia

The paper presents possibilities for establishment of a new market-based concept of the urban land management in Serbia in the period of transition. Urban land system and land policy are very important factors for competitiveness of cities in Serbia and initiating changes in this field is a necessity. The article discusses an option for privatization of urban public land and possible establishment and inclusion of leasehold land. Some open questions concerning the choice of the urban land system concept are considered, the possibility of urban land privatization and possibility for the establishment of leasehold of urban public land in Serbia. The paper concludes that there is a lack of political will to fairly solve problems of urban land reforms under the new market conditions. Some current research options suggested a reform based on privatization of public urban land, but there was no research on other options (leasehold for the majority of public land)

Building a Common Platform: Integrative and Territorial Approach to Planning Cultural Heritage within the Framework of the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia 2021-2035

In accordance with international documents, European regulations and standards, recent documents of spatial and urban planning in Serbia promote the objectives of an integrative and territorial approach for theprotection and planning of cultural heritage. This is intended as a cross-institutional, cross-sectoral approach and extending the scope of the protection of single monuments to wider spatial entities. Institutional and legal frameworks of the cultural heritage protection and planning have not yet been harmonised with international recommendations and do not support achieving these goals. Cultural Property Law (1994) is still in force and does not recognise the categories of cultural landscape (although the European Landscape Convention was ratified in Serbia in 2011) and of urban landscape (as the UNESCO's Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape from 2011 has not been ratified yet, although the scientific and professional community has been acquainted with it). In accordance with the current law, single monuments dominate the structure of the Central Registry of immovable cultural properties. Considering that registration is not legally binding, there is a lack of additional research to recognise the architectural and urban heritage that is not under institutional protection. This has resulted in the decline of valuable buildings and ensembles, including entire urban settlements that represent important constituents of the cultural and urban identity of Serbia. Furthermore, Reports on the Implementation of the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia from 2010 point to an unequal spatial distribution of registered cultural goods, which is not related to the factual cultural and historical importance of certain areas, but to the degree of economic development and the activity of certain regional protection services. This sets an additional task for the planning documents on enhanced urban protection measures in these areas. The preparation of the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia 2021-2035 is underway, which affirms that cultural heritage is a resource of sustainable development as well as of national, regional and urban identity as one of the general objectives of spatial development. This paper is a summary of an initial analysis of the draft plan. It indicates the need to establish a common platform for the protection, planning and sustainable use of cultural heritage in Serbia. This platform should act on three main levels, firstly gathering data on cultural properties; secondly compounding all formal and informal documents relating to cultural heritage, especially s regards its spatial dimension; and last but not least, inolving a wide range of participants in the protection, planning and management of cultural heritage

The right of servitude between public interest and undisturbed use of private property

For obtaining the land in order to build the magistral pipeline a specific form of land expropriation is applied, namely the Right of servitude. The Right of servitude can be realized on the basis of established public interest, which can be defined according to the spatial plan of the relevant area. The Right of servitude is analyzed from the point of its influence on the respect of basic human rights of property owners to enjoy their property in safety and without disturbance. Current legal framework in Serbia that regulates procedures for acquiring land for the purpose of public interest allows for breach of private property rights. There is a mutual inconsistency between a number of decrees that regulate property rights for large infrastructural development projects. A specific, and possibly a greater problem, is the status of the local population, the land owner and other real estate. It concerns their awareness of their private and individual rights, as well as technical and other legal standards, which must be applied during the preparation, construction and working stages of an energy facility. Applying the Right of servitude as a way to acquire land for construction of the Pipeline, there is direct breach of the basic human right as stated in the first Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, namely that ‘every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions’ (Article 1, Protocol 1). The Right of servitude allows the investor to use ‘public interest’ as a way of gaining access to another’s land, and under better financial conditions than if he were to apply permanent expropriation. While the owner retains his/her ownership of the land, inconvenienced by numerous limitations of its use, usability and market value of the land becomes substantially reduced

Tourism development in Serbia: On the way to sustainability and European integration

The aim of the paper is to contribute to improvement of tourism policy and practice in Serbia towards defining and implementing sustainability principles and meeting European integration requirements. It encompasses short review of international implications on Serbian tourism policy and legislation. Current policy and its sustainability are analyzed using two indicators: application of integrated (cross sector) and local community approach, with particular focus on tourism, environmental and planning documents. There is general orientation towards sustainability and involvement of local community into the planning and implementation of projects in the field. Precisely defined mechanisms for public participation and integrated approach, first of all mainstreaming of environmental issues into tourism strategic document, are preconditions for reaching country’s sustainability goals and EU integration orientation. Points that should be improved are suggested and the need for mutual cooperation and capacity development of stakeholders at all levels, including further international support, strongly advocated

National indicators for evaluating the outcome of reinventing spatial planning in Serbia

This paper is a follow-up to a research in the domain of theorizing planning practice and practising spatial planning theoretical approaches in the context of information-isation, globalisation and EU-isation. The theoretical framework contemplates the meaning of the spatial concept that is grounded in the duality of the information phenomenon and contemporary expression of the space notion, as a way of reinventing spatial planning. The operational framework discuses the spatial planning practice in Serbia through a brief explanation of applied methodology for identifying a suitable indicator set proposed for the implementation monitoring of the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia 2010-2020. The national indicators set represents a theoretical model of knowledge for evaluating relational outcomes of spatial development complexity, and its spatial-temporal character represents a way of practising theoretical approaches as monitoring tools for spatial planning within the limits of the present regulatory system in Serbia

The population conundrums and some implications for urban development in Serbia

Population development may reveal either a potential or constraint on functional labour markets and spatial development of the territory in concern. The first results of the 2011 Census in Serbia depict a rather bleak demographic situation, which is only the continuation of population trends from the late 20th and beginning of the 21st century, substantially fuelled by dynamic political and socioeconomic processes featuring Serbia in the past few decades. The focus is on demographic changes in relation to three correlated aspects: 1) intensive ageing process; 2) depopulation and negative natural growth; and 3) migratory movements - population exodus. This paper addresses in particular the spatial consequences and institutional aspects of recent demographic changes and their reflection on urban areas in Serbia. In the past, population movements from rural to urban areas used to colour much of the migratory balance map of the country, however this situation changed due to exhaustion of the ‘traditional’ demographic reservoirs. Still, urban primacy of the capital city Belgrade has been even intensified with the recent demographic movements, or more precisely, a tissue of the two largest cities in relative proximity - Belgrade and Novi Sad is hypertrophied in a demographic sense. Other urban settlements in Serbia, especially the smaller towns, which are numerous but demographically shrinking, have not been empowered enough to substantiate better links with smaller and larger settlements within urban-rural interface, and their role has been challenged in that respect. Demographic changes, which affect urban growth or decline, are largely to do with border effects, economic and social gaps, educational opportunities, and search of certain ‘urban lifestyles’. The latter is particularly stressed regarding the process of ‘second demographic transition’ which encompassed Serbia and is manifested by changes in the family domain, viz. partnership and parenthood, as well as by plurality of lifestyles, namely for the younger and middle-age generations (20-34 years - dominantly the people in reproductive age) who are able to exercise their residential choices towards bigger urban centres. Finally, this paper addresses the demographic determinants of languishing population growth in Serbia coupled with highly uneven territorial distributions of population and level of development, which in the last decade marks the ratio of 10:1 (measured by GDP/inh.) between the most developed and the least developed regions in Serbia

Potentials and limitations of spatial and demographic development in Kosovo-Metohija lignite basin

The initial research carried out for the purpose of elaborating the Spatial Plan for Kosovo-Metohija Lignite Basin indicated the need to address numerous conflicts and opposing interests in the area concerned. This required the Plan to focus on harmonizing the economic, social and spatial aspects of developing a mining-energy-industrial system (hereinafter MEIS) and its surroundings, devising the new ways for the protection of local population interests and use of novel approaches in dealing with the environmental consequences of lignite exploitation and processing. The area wherein Kosovo-Metohija lignite deposits are found is replete with diverse conflicting interests, including insufficient and uneven development, extremely large overall and especially agrarian population density (among the highest in Europe), unemployment and a sizable portion of the grey economy, low level and quality of services of public interest, ethnic conflicts and polarization, etc. The environmental effects of MEIS activities in a situation of this kind were revealed by the early stages of research in all segments of economic, social and spatial development, along with a high degree of environmental degradation. The main conflict in the Plan area is the one between mining and agriculture, i.e. open pit lignite mining and high-fertility soil covering lignite deposits. The conflict is additionally aggravated by the remarkable density of agricultural population on this territory and high selling prices of the land. Therefore, a substantial part of the Plan’s propositions was related to the conditions of settlement and infrastructure relocation, population resettlement and measures to relieve the tensions and prevent the outbreak of potential conflicts in implementing the Plan. The Spatial Plan is conceived as a complex and comprehensive document defining the framework, basic principles, starting points and measures tackling the numerous development conflicts, spatial, social and ecological limitations, including the relevant analytical and data bases deriving from field research and surveys. Despite the fact that under the UN SC Resolution 1244, the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija has been under the jurisdiction of the United Nations since June 1999, we believe that the Draft of the Spatial Plan and the research work done for its purpose are still valid, since to this date there have been no attempts to start the formation of new open pits in Kosovo lignite basin

Transformation of the New Belgrade urban tissue: Filling the space instead of interpolation

This paper points to current transformations of the New Belgrade architectural and urban space identifying the process of filling the empty undeveloped areas within the New Belgrade blocks under the pressure of new commercial facilities. Given that these changes are not regulated by plans in an appropriate way, they are manifested in the space as problem situations leading to the production of space which is appropriate for the narrow interests of capital holders, while interests of direct users, as well as interest of a wider public, are most often neglected. The paper presents a critical analysis of the existing conditions and identifies problems emerging in the development and planning of the New Belgrade urban tissue. The space transformations have been explored at the level of urban and physical structure, urban landscape and user's life. Identified problem situations are indicative for further consideration of strategies for urban-architectural planning and design of New Belgrade

Socio-cultural models as an important element of the site selection process in rural waste management

The problem of waste management in rural areas has not been the subject of detailed specific researches since most of the research has been directed towards the study of means, mechanisms and procedures of waste elimination in urban settlements. The reason for the reduced scope of research in this field lies in the fact that rural settlements cannot be considered as "grateful" subjects due to usual deficiency of specific data (population number, fluctuations, amount of waste, waste composition, methods of waste elimination, etc.). In addition, for several decades the villages have primarily eliminated waste spontaneously. This has proven difficult to research because of the variations of methods applied to each specific locale, as well as different environmental variables. These criteria are based on patterns of behavior, customs and habits of the local population, but they also insist on absolute participation of local stakeholders in waste management. On the other hand, although Serbia has a legislative frame which is fully harmonized with European laws, there is a problem within unclearly defined waste management system which is oriented mainly on rural areas. The reason for this is the fact that waste management in rural areas is the part of regional waste management, and does not operate independently from the system in "urban" areas. However, since rural areas require the construction of recycling yards, this paper will present a new methodology, which equally valuates techno-economic criteria and social criteria in determining waste elimination locations. This paper will also point out varieties of actors in the process of waste elimination in rural areas, as well as the possibility of their participation

The implementation model of planning rules in spatial plans

The implementation of spatial plans in past practice in Serbia was the weakest link of planning - theoretically insufficiently studied, methodologically vague and non-positioned, and only formally and partially carried out in practice. There is a general agreement that implementation should be perceived and oriented through spatial plans, in order to maximize the effect on other factors beyond the planning system. For that reason it is necessary to define theoretically the model of implementation for the spatial plan, the elements and contents of which reflect the logical, functional and time coherence of all planning decisions. Since there are several different methods and objects of planning, this paper has singled out four basic models and presents the results of the research (comparative analyses) into the role of application in the planning practice in Serbia using the example of a model of implementation for planning rules. An evaluated and studied model of implementation was applied in spatial plans for areas of special purpose and spatial plans of the local government units. This paper provides recommendations for further application of the model in the planning practice in Serbia